Meditations upon the insanity and occasional accidental beauty of everyday life.

17.4.16

Uptown Fairbridge

We've just been to a music festival. Getting teenagers to do anything that their parents think will be 'fun and cool' is generally a lost cause but somehow we managed to pull this one off.

Fairbridge Festival is held just out of Perth every year. It's a kind of folk / world / indi type of event which they sum up by calling a festival of 'inspired music'. It cleverly attracts people of all ages, except maybe if you are between 20-30 with quite mainstream tastes and would rather stick hot pins in your eyes than listen to anything involving a fiddle. That's not us. Kids endured most of it and enjoyed odd moments which is on balance a pretty good outcome.

I won't prattle endlessly about all the incredible acts. There were many, but there's nothing more boring than someone talking about something you have not seen or heard. Teen faves were Bullhorn, a seven piece brass outfit from Brisbane with rapper MC; hard not to like them. Chris Matthews who grew up in Kununurra (WA's godforsaken back of beyond) who has never had music lesson in his life played guitar like, well, I can't even begin to describe how good he was. Canadian group Opposite of Everything who looked utterly missable on the programme were mesmorising and super clever musos.

But most amazing was a guy wandering around the festival, a one man band, if you like. Uptown Brown pipes music straight out of the 20's from a contraption on his back involving a synthesizer, and assorted instruments. The sound coming from him was like a gramophone. He was extraordinary and sweet and appealed to absolutely everyone.

Unlike the morris dancers who had me cringing along with the kids, at least we could agree on something. Old people desperately trying to be to be wacky and out there, please don't let me ever be one of those. I love morris dancing but this was way too messed around with. Some things are best left old school!